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NPR host to speak as part of the Reading Together program

by Mark SchwerinMarch 23, 2013 | WMU News

Cover of Gladstone's book

KALAMAZOO—Journalist, media analyst and author Brooke Gladstone, host of the National Public Radio magazine "On the Media," will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, in 2452 Knauss Hall at Western Michigan University as part of the Kalamazoo Public Library's Reading Together 2013 activities.

Her presentation is titled "The Influence of the Media" and is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing will follow her talk, and copies of Gladstone's latest release, "The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media," will be for sale.

On her radio program, Gladstone gives an up-close look at what the news media are covering and why. While maintaining the civility and fairness that are the hallmarks of public radio, Gladstone tackles sticky issues with frankness and transparency.

Brooke Gladstone

Gladstone has been a contributor to The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and Slate and lectures at universities and conferences across the country. She is widely quoted on press trends and has appeared on PBS's "Bill Moyers Journal" and CNN's "Reliable Sources."

In 1987, Gladstone joined National Public Radio, first as editor of "Weekend Edition with Scott Simon," then as senior editor of "All Things Considered." In 1991, she received a Knight Fellowship to study Russian language and history. A year later, she was reporting from Moscow for NPR. She returned to the United States and was NPR's first "media reporter," based in New York.

In 2000, she was tabbed to help relaunch "On the Media." By 2010, the show had quadrupled its audience and earned several major journalism awards. She describes her new book, a collaboration with cartoonist Josh Neufeld and others, as "a treatise on the relationship between us and the news media." In it, she depicts the role of the press in American history as told through a cartoon version of herself.

Reading Together

Gladstone's appearance complements one of the themes of this year's Reading Together selection, "The Submission," by Amy Waldman, which has to do with how the media impact the public's decisions, perceptions and, in some cases, people's identities.

"If you're at all familiar with Brooke's NPR program, you know these are issues that are very likely to be discussed in a variety of interesting ways," says Karen Santamaria, reader services librarian and Reading Together coordinator for the Kalamazoo Pubic Library. "So Brooke seemed like a natural tie-in and we are confident she’ll have thought-provoking and very relevant perspectives on these topics."

Gladstone's appearance is co-sponsored by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, Friends of Kalamazoo Public Library and MLive-Kalamazoo Gazette as well as WMU's University Center for the Humanities, College of Fine Arts, WMUK-FM, the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and the School of Communication.